Romney: Auto bailout failed

Chrysler and GM are turning a profit, but in Mitt Romney's book that doesn't mean the auto bailouts were a success.

"The bailout program was not a success because the bailout program wasted a lot of money," Romney said in the debate, arguing that the right thing to do was "letting these enterprises go through bankruptcy" with no public support.

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"Instead, the Bush administration and the Obama administration wrote checks to the auto industry," Romney said, accusing Obama of playing favorites with the UAW.

The former Massachusetts governor has struggled over the last few weeks with his message on autos, as Democrats have called him out for saying Americans could "kiss the auto industry goodbye" if it got bailed out.

Challenged on those words Monday, Romney stuck by them, saying that the bailouts wasted $17 billion on the way to implementing "the very bankruptcy process I was suggesting."